Murat Olgun G. was handed an aggravated life sentence for the deliberate murder of transsexual Çağla from Ankara. Murat Olgun G. was furthermore found guilty of looting his victim's home, where he had committed the homicide, and received another 12-year prison sentence.
The court rejected the defendant's claim for mitigation due to unjust provocation.
Court rejected request of defendant's council
The eighth hearing of the case was held before the Ankara 5th High Criminal Court on 20 January. As lawyer Senem Doğanoğlu reported to bianet, the prosecutor made his final plead and the defendant's council made his final speech of defence.
The prosecution demanded punishment based on the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) for "aggravated looting of the victim's home at night" and "intentional murder to conceal the crime". The defendant's council on the other hand stated that aggravated looting did not occur and requested not to punish the defendant for deliberate homicide but to apply the clause of unjust provocation instead.
The court did not declare the reasons for its decision. However, the mitigation request for "unjust provocation" was rejected. The court decided for life sentence in solitary confinement without parole on the grounds of deliberate homicide with the aim of concealing a crime. Additionally, Murat Olgun G. was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for aggravated looting of the victim's home.
Mitigation of punishment for "good conduct"
The court reduced the aggravated sentence to an ordinary sentence and the 12-year sentence to ten years imprisonment by reason of the defendant's good conduct during the hearings.
In the hearing on 8 July, the defendant had confessed the murder of his victim Çağla at her home in Ankara on 21 May 2009. He admitted that he had stolen three mobile phones from the apartment and also took TL 400, money he was going to receive for a web site. Murat Olgun G. furthermore said that he cut the cables of the security cameras when he left the building and dropped the murder weapon, a knife, into a trash container at Demetevler. (BÇ/VK)
* Source: kaosgl.org.
